Category: Food & Wine

Posted on

finding a new life for stale scraps of cake, muffin, croissants and bread!

making good bread stale

My journey to find stale goodies was quite a success and oddly enough it has nothing to do with saving money, although it certainly works out that way. People often don’t see that value that is right in front of them.

For example, many years ago,  I offered to clear a friend’s undeveloped property of a variety of boulders, mostly Serpentine, Shale and a few rather large rocks of many hundred pounds full of zinc ( we used to have a lot of active zinc mines in this area ). He accepted and I know he felt a bit like Tom Sawyer conning his friends into painting his fence for ‘fun’, until he saw the boulders utilized in my yard.

I feel the same way about so many products that still have culinary viability in a new production. Incorporating prior culinary treasures into new wonders is not only fun, but it is practical and economical.  This was the key to the early chef’s success!

Fortunately for bread pudding makers, there are always bakeries that have something they can’t sell… funny how that works. Now, I have enough to make my bread pudding dessert on Sunday. In case you are wondering, those are banana muffins and I am surprised they didn’t sell. I find having many different textures adds a lot to the pudding.

Bon apetitte!

Posted on

bread pudding is marvelous

bread pudding is marvelous!

I have written about the beauty of bread pudding many times because it is certainly one of my favorite desserts! The beauty is that it is different every time you make it, or at least, it should be! The concept of the chefs of old was that you threw everything left over into a bowl which might contain: scraps of cake, muffin, croissants and bread! Personally, I think it is the unintended variety that makes all the difference.

Certainly, adding some dried fruit ( sultanas and blueberries) soaked in Armagnac or brandy for the raisins and rye whiskey for the blueberries is a treat and extracting the natural vanilla flavorings from vanilla beans takes time. By Sunday, my search for all the ingredients will be over and it will be time to bake!

You may ask why I don’t have any leftovers?… well, we are not a big kitchen any more! Now, I have to scour the day old sections of various bakeries.

So what are you making today?

Roger

(click on the picture above for my basic bread pudding recipe)

Posted on

the cracker bread I remember

lavash cracker bread
the Lavash Cracker Bread I remember

The ingredients and process for making ‘Cracker Bread’ is a very simple one; however it is finding the right moisture level in the dough product that many find challenging. I found cracker bread common place living in the east, but only a spot or two on the west coast made anything memorable.

The basic recipe:

3 cups flour ( I prefer Bread Flour )
3 tablespoons gluten
1 tablespoon or package yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup ‘special’  flour (whole wheat, dark rye, or your choice)

    process of making cracker bread
    the process of making a yummy cracker bread

    Process:

    1) Mix the following: 1 cup water, 1 cup ‘special’ flour, 3 tablespoons gluten, 1 tablespoon ( or package) yeast
    2) Add: 1 cup flour and mix (dough hook on my machine)
    3) Add: the rest of the flour gradually
    4) Cover dough and place into a greased bowl ( I use olive oil) for 1 hour to rise
    5) roll dough into a long cylinder and slice 15 pieces (and flatten slightly)  and cover and place in a warm area for 30 minutes or so
    6) roll out each section as thin as possible or reasonable
    7) Heat over to 500 degrees with cookie sheets inside
    8) place rolled out dough on cookie sheets and back 3-5 minutes or until parts of the bubbles begin to darken

      I personally love Cracker bread with a variety of spreadable cheeses or just simply with softened butter! A little wine goes well ,too! ( I enjoy a South African Pinotage)

      enjoy!

      Roger

      Posted on

      boiling your own grape leaves

      Ah... growing your own grape leaves makes all the difference!

      Most recipes for preparing grape leaves for consumption have the following characteristics:

      1) Pick only the young leaves in late May or early June (however, this depends entirely on the variety and the time of the year they begin to grow)

      2) Bundle in groups of 10 or 20 with the stems at one end and fold once or twice and tie with string

      3) boil in salt water ( I throw in some lemon)

      4) pack tightly in jars and pour hot salt water over them

      Personally, my leaves seldom last very long so I save them flat in my fridge and use as needed!

      Here is my recipe for Greek Dolmades!

      Bon appetite!

      Roger

      Posted on

      what she really wants on mothers day

      what she really wants on mothers day

      After 38 years of marriage and much soul searching, I am starting to get better at gifting the women in my life what they want for special occasions. The secret? I ask them! Obviously, it is extremely bad form to ask any woman what they want on the day of the event; however, I manage to sneak questions into the conversation well in advance.

      Most of our events center around food, since we are foodies this should not surprise anyone. Laura loves my stuffed Bell Peppers — as did her mother — so this isn’t too tough a decision. However, dessert is always a challenge. Laura loved the tin roof sundae served at a restaurant called the ‘Hamburger Hamlet.‘ Dessert won’t be a tough one to recreate with homemade french vanilla ice cream, real caramel, nuts and hot fudge smothered in whipped cream! I guess I’ll have one as well!

      Laura also wanted an ergonomically designed chair…  which was a bit more challenging, but this one has memory foam for the padding and looked a great deal more reputable than the others I found. Oh yes, there was the iPad.

      Happy Mother’s Day, Laura and to everyone!